Christianity

Overview

Christianity is currently one of the world's most popular and well-funded religions.

Mythology

Although there are many variants, the main trunk (of which most of the others are variants) can be summarized as the belief that a quasi-divine entity, who was briefly present on the earth in human form but was killed and then magically revived in non-human form, allows people to live happily forever in the form of a spirit if they eat crackers and wine which have been magically transformed into his flesh and blood (but only in essence; you can't actually tell the difference from regular crackers and wine) and telepathically accept him as their master. He allows people to live forever by removing an evil force from their souls which the creator of the universe put into all humans because a talking snake convinced a rib-woman to eat from a magical tree.

People who do not accept this entity as their master (or, in some cases, are insufficiently fervent in their acceptance of his mastery) are either condemned to an eternity of torment (typically involving fire) or else are merely prohibited from living happily ever after (entering "heaven").

Views

Due to the fact of Christianity's central figure (Jesus Christ) being a revived corpse, as well as the emphasis on eating the flesh and blood of this corpse, Christianity is sometimes colorfully described as a zombie death-cult. It is not clear if Christ actually qualifies as a "zombie", however, since it is his flesh which is being eaten rather than him trying to eat other people's brains. It's not clear whether Christ has a will of his own, which would also disqualify him as a zombie, or if he is purely an agent of God's will (which arguably would mean that God is Christ's bokor if Christ did fit the definition of zombie).

In any case, zombies are a creation of the Voodoo religion, which post-dates Christianity's origins by many centuries (and indeed incorporates many Christian elements).

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Links

Reference

• Wikipedia
• Conservapedia
• dKosopedia
• SourceWatch: no equivalent page (as of 2008-08-28)

Opinion

• Understanding Christianity by Jennifer Diane Reitz: salvation-through-Jesus as a protection racket

Filed Links

version 2

• 2009-09-01 [Talk|Index] "Hooking Up" at College: Does Religion Make a Difference? § “Catholic college women are more likely to have "hooked up" while at school than college women with no religious affiliation. ... women who attend colleges and universities with a Catholic affiliation are more likely to have hooked up while at school than women who attend academic institutions with no religious affiliation...”
• 2009-05-01 [Talk|Index] High school teacher found guilty of insulting Christians § “James Corbett, a 20-year teacher at Capistrano Valley High School, was found guilty of referring to Creationism as “religious, superstitious nonsense” during a 2007 classroom lecture...”
• 2008-12-12 [Talk|Index] Shocking video of Evangelical Christian missionaries embedded with American combat troops in Afghanistan § “...the missionaries were completely embedded and, thus, actually permitted to stay on U.S. military bases, travel with a public affairs unit, and accompany and film troops on patrols, all for the purpose of evangelizing Afghanis and producing a television show promoting the Christian religion.”
• 2008-07-05 [Talk|Index] Obama's America blesses God § [2]Totally rips into Obama's 2008-07-01 speech on religion. Sadly, this is one of the few real reasons not to vote for Obama -- but due to our two-party system, it's the only way to defeat the guy who will win otherwise and who is a lot worse on these same issues (not to mention many others).
• 2008-07-01 [Talk|Index] Prepared Remarks of Senator Barack Obama § [2]“Now, I know there are some who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square. But the fact is, leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between the White House and faith-based groups. President Clinton signed legislation that opened the door for faith-based groups to play a role in a number of areas, including helping people move from welfare to work. Al Gore proposed a partnership between Washington and faith-based groups to provide more support for the least of these. And President Bush came into office with a promise to "rally the armies of compassion," establishing a new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.” Commentary: 2008-07-05 Obama's America blesses God
• 2008-06-11 [Talk|Index] Christian Leaders Meet Obama Privately § [2]“Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama discussed Darfur, the Iraq war, gay rights, abortion and other issues with Christian leaders, including conservatives, in a private meeting Tuesday. .. Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent black clergyman who heads a Dallas megachurch, said Obama took questions, listened to participants and discussed his "personal journey of faith." .. The discussion "went absolutely everywhere," Jakes told The Associated Press, and "just about every Christian stripe was represented in that room."”
• 2008-05-26 [Talk|Index] Open the Door to Conversational Evangelism § [2]“When an unbeliever makes a statement concerning God, the world, man, morality, ethics, or any other subject, he asserts it as an absolute certainty. For example, an atheist who believes in evolution may say that God does not exist. However, on his worldview, he has no basis to make such a statement. On his worldview, knowledge is obtained through observation (or the scientific method). His problem is that he has limited knowledge and ability to obtain that knowledge. He does not have the ability to search every square inch of the cosmos to determine whether or not there is a God. On his worldview, he cannot know that there is no God. His statement of certainty is rendered completely uncertain.” This article was seen as an overt challenge to atheists in at least one or two places.
• 2007-12-13 [Talk|Index] I'm So Sorry, Jesus § [2]A list of ways in which we should offer reparations to Christianity for oppressing it (except that they're all already true).
• 2007-12-10 [Talk|Index] Congress to say Christmas is important. Sun and Moon declared good too § [2]“As someone with a Christian background, I can safely say this may be the silliest resolution ever introduced by, or voted upon, by Congress, although I am a little curious to see if anyone will vote against it. .. Do we really need Congress to say Christmas and the Christian faith are important? Isn't that pretty self evident by now? Don't Christians already pretty much run everything in this country, except for the mainstream media, which is of course controlled by a Jewish-Illuminati-Bill Gates cabal?”
• 2007-10-17 [Talk|Index] Shout against the Coulters of the world § [2]by Leonard Pitts Jr: “Coulter plays the news media like Louis Armstrong once played his cornet. She is a virtuoso of stage-managed controversy. So there's something to be said for refusing to play along, for ignoring her in the hope that she will just go away. .. But some things only fester and grow in the dark. Some things use silence as assent.”
• 2007-09-23 [Talk|Index] Teacher fired for saying the bible should not be taken literally § “A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.”
• 2007-02-22 [Talk|Index] Bible essay stirs trouble for teacher § [2]“The nature of God will no longer be part of an atheist teacher's American literature class at Lake Stevens High School. .. Gary McDonald, 60, said he had no intention of swaying students' religious beliefs during a lesson last month. .. "I regret in the strongest terms the trouble that I have caused," McDonald said on Tuesday. The goal, he said, was to get students to think. .. The school's principal gave McDonald a verbal reprimand after one student's parents complained he was denigrating their Christianity.” That's about right, isn't it – thinking denigrates Christianity. This should also lay to rest any notion that religion will leave rationality alone if rationality leaves religion alone. The teacher wasn't spreading his own beliefs, much less challenging those of the students; he merely asked them to consider some specific questions about them – apparently, Christianity finds this intolerable. Commentary: Pharyngula

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Bay of Fundie for inspiring the summary of Christian belief.